UAE diplomat sees parallel in UK ‘seeking co-operation’ to fight terror
banking group. The country also accounts for about 90 per cent of the UK’s gas imports.
The British foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, has called on the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt to end the Qatar boycott and to instead redouble diplomatic initiatives to resolve the stand-off.
Mr Al Mazroui suggested that pressure on Qatar over its alleged support of radical groups had a parallel in British efforts to prevent terrorism. “The [British] prime minister [Theresa May] has expressed herself many times to other leaders that she’s seeking co-operation in combating extremism.
“Particularly when the UK is suffering from the same thing,” he said. “The same thing happens if Qatar pursues the same policy. Steps taken by the four countries are the final straw. It’s not an easy thing for us, a bloc like the GCC, to excommunicate a member, but we were forced to do it.”
Mr Al Mazroui noted that the UAE had “certainly the largest partnership in trade with the UK”, worth more than £15bn (Dh71.6 bn) a year, adding that he hoped this would increase to £20bn by 2020.
“We’re talking about three years’ time. That will make us the largest Arab country [in terms of trade with the UK]. We’re the No 4 export market for UK products,” he said.
By contrast, he described the UK’s trade with Qatar as “negligible compared to the trade with the UAE”. It is estimated at more than £5bn a year, significantly less than half the UKUAE trade.
Mr Al Mazroui suggested the dispute will prevent the forging of a UK-GCC free-trade agreement, something that senior British government officials have said they would like to see.
“With the GCC, we’re still finding our way out of this crisis. Unless it’s resolved amicably, you’re going to see trade with the Gulf as a bloc – it’s going to be a bit hampered,” he said.
Dr David Roberts, a member of the Defence Studies Department at King’s College London and author of a book on Qatar, said the British authorities had to “tread a very careful line” when it came to balancing the interests of Qatar and the UAE. “Like nearly all other states, they’re not in a position to choose fundamentally and come down on one side,” he said. “The government is preoccupied with Brexit; the bandwidth available is minimal,” he said.